A pause. A step. Another pause.
Ready, Sachs told herself.
She eased closer to the back corner of the house.
Which is when her foot slid off a patch of ice. She gave a faint, involuntary gasp. Hardly audible, she thought.
But it was loud enough for the trespasser.
She heard the pounding of feet fleeing through the backyard, crunching through the snow.
Damn . . .
In a crouch--in case it was a feint to draw her to target--she looked around the corner and lifted the Glock fast. She saw a lanky man in jeans and a thick jacket sprinting away through the snow.
Hell . . . Just hate it when they run. Sachs had been dealt a tall body and bum joints--arthritis--and the combination made running pure misery.
"I'm a police officer. Stop!" She started sprinting after him.
Sachs was on her own for the pursuit. She'd never told Westchester County Police that she was here. Any assistance would have to come through a 911 call and she didn't have time for that.
"I'm not going to tell you again. Stop!"
No response.
They raced in tandem through the large yard then into the woods behind the house. Breathing hard, a pain below her ribs joining the agony in her knees, she moved as fast as she could but he was pulling ahead of her.
Shit, I'm gonna lose him.
But nature intervened. A branch protruding from the snow caught his shoe and he went down hard, with a huge grunt that Sachs heard from forty feet away. She ran up and, gasping for breath, rested the side of the Glock against his neck. He stopped squirming.
"Don't hurt me! Please!"
"Shhhh."
Out came the cuffs.
"Hands behind your back."
He squinted. "I didn't do anything!"
"Hands."
He did as he was told but in an awkward way that told her he'd probably never been collared. He was younger than she'd thought--a teenager, his face dotted with acne.
"Don't hurt me, please!"
Sachs caught her breath and searched him. No ID, no weapons, no drugs. Money and a set of keys. "What's your name?"
"Greg."
"Last name?"
A hesitation. "Witherspoon."
"You live around here?"
He sucked in air, nodding to his right. "The house there, next door to the Creeleys'."